Thousands of new-build homes left with poor broadband

Many residents of newly-built homes are struggling with slow or non-existent broadband, an investigation from Cable.co.uk has revealed.

The broadband advice site has received thousands of complaints from homebuyers or renters struggling to connect to the internet, despite moving into new developments.

Dan Howdle, editor-in-chief of the website, said: "It comes as a complete surprise to most new build homebuyers that their ultra-modern home not only offers broadband speeds unfit for basic everyday use, but in some cases no broadband connectivity at all."

One such case is the new Sandmartins development in Darlington, where residents say they are left frustrated with slow connections while those in neighbouring houses receive superfast speeds.

Cable.co.uk spoke to Steve Hodgson, who said it was "blisteringly frustrating" that some of the buildings in the development could access speeds of 200Mbps while his family could only manage 2Mbps.

Poor broadband in new-build developments is also having an impact on small businesses. Jon Gibson, who bought a house on the new Portland Wynd development in Blyth, Northumberland, said that his wife struggles to work from home as a result of the slow connection.

Earlier this month Labour MP Chi Onwurah, herself a former telecoms engineer, said that it was "incomprehensible" that new homes are still being connected with copper cables rather than fibre networks, despite the government's bid to deliver superfast broadband to the UK.

Ms Onwurah called on the government to give more guidance to homebuilders and said other countries manage “to get it right” by using shared ducting for utilities.

While some councils have already brought in policies requiring new-build houses to have access to superfast broadband, many councils are petitioning for the legal powers to insist that new-build homes have access to high speeds.

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